Tetrapus 

Tetrapus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Superfamily: Chalcidoidea
Family: Agaonidae
Subfamily: Agaoninae
Genus: Tetrapus
Mayr 1885
Species1

Tetrapus americanus Mayr
Tetrapus antillarum Ashmead
Tetrapus costaricanus Grandi
Tetrapus ecuadoranus Grandi
Tetrapus mayri Brues
Tetrapus mexicanus Grandi

Tetrapus is a genus of fig wasp native to the Americas. Fig wasps have an obligate mutualism with the fig species they pollinate. Tetrapus pollinates figs in the subgenus Pharmacosycea.

Tetrapus appears to be a basal clade among the fig-pollinating wasps.2

The genus is estimated to be 87.5 million years old using cytochrome oxidase nucleotide sequences, and more than 34.5 million years old based on a fossil fly in amber from Florissant, Colorado in the United States.2

References

  1. ^ "Universal Chalcidoidea Database: Taxonomic Tree". Natural History Museum. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
  2. ^ a b Machado, Carlos A.; Emmanuelle Jousselin; Finn Kjellberg; Stephen G. Compton; Edward Allen Herre (2001). "Phylogenetic relationships, historical biogeography and character evolution of Ž fig-pollinating wasps". Proceedings_of_the_Royal_Society_B 268 (1468): 685-694. doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1418, http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/g84kfpkkg97tt7ah/. 


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